Maine joins growing list of states to vote on marijuana legalization

Protestors hold signs as a group that hopes to legalize marijuana in Maine deliver boxes of petition signatures to the state Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, in Augusta, Maine. The group is hoping to make Maine the first state in the East to legalize pot for recreational use. (AP Photo/Tom Bell)

In November, voters in Maine will decide whether to become the first east-coast state to legalize marijuana.

If ratified by voters, the states of Maine, Arizona, and Nevada would join four states—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington that have already legalized adult-use cannabis, all through voter initiatives.

Washington, DC, legalized possession and cultivation, but not sales. California voters are considering several legalization initiatives, but none have enough signatures yet to be on the ballot. Their deadline is in July.

Assuming the Maine measure makes the ballot and passes, Maine would become the first state east of the Mississippi to legalize it, notes Alternet.

Vermont is moving toward legalization through the legislative process. That bill has won a first committee vote, but its prospects for passage this year are uncertain. And Massachusetts could well end voting for a legalization initiative this year, too.

In Florida, United For Care has succeeded in getting a comprehensive medical marijuana reform onto the ballot for the second time as a proposed constitutional amendment. Ratification would require a 60 percent or greater positive vote. In November 2014, the earlier version of the same measure nearly made it into law, receiving 58 percent of the vote.

“Over the past eight months, we’ve talked to more than 100,000 voters across the state, from Kittery to Caribou,” states campaign manager David Boyer. “Most Mainers agree it is time to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition, and they will have the opportunity to do it this November.”

According to a poll last spring from the Portland marketing firm Critical Insights, 65 percent of residents support legalizing the plant. Nearly four out five (79 percent) say it should be sold in licensed establishments, reports Alternet.

The initiative would let people 21 or over possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot and grow a limited number of plants in their homes. It would also set up the framework for a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, product-manufacturing facilities, and testing facilities, and it would create rules governing the cultivation, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana. The initiative would enact a 10% tax on marijuana sales.

“This initiative will replace the underground marijuana market with a tightly controlled system of legitimate, taxpaying businesses that create good jobs for Maine residents,” Boyer said. “It will also make Maine safer by allowing enforcement officials to spend more time addressing serious crimes instead of enforcing failed marijuana prohibition laws.”

Maine is ready to take marijuana “out of the shadows and out of the black market,” state Rep. Diane Russell (D-Portland), a long-time legalization supporter, said at a Monday press conference. She scolded the legislature for refusing to act on legalization, but said the state’s medical marijuana program pointed in the right direction. “It tells people we were right all along,” she said. “Maine people really do want a rational policy around drug use. Maine has proven we can regulate marijuana responsibly.”